Method and apparatus for reducing adhesiveness of plastic material



Dec-15,1925

' A. WALEZAK METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REDUCING ADHESIVENESS 0F PLASTIC MATERIAL Filed Jan 26 Patented Dec. 15, "1925.

UNITED STATES.

I I a 1,565,535 PATENT OFFICE.

ANTON I WALEZAK, OF AK ROINQ OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY, 01

NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REDUCING ADHESIVENESS OI ELASTIC MATERIAL.

Applicatioh filed January 26, 1924. Serial No. 688,888.

- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANTONI WALEZAK, a citizen of the United States, residin at Akron, in the county of Summit and tate t of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Method and Apparatus for Reducin Adhesiveness of Plastic Material, of whic the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the art of forming and handling adhesive plastic material such as unvulcanized rubber, as in the preparation of stock for the building of rubber footwear and the like, and its chief object is. to provide improved'procedure and apparatus for reducing the adhesivenessof such materials, so as to facilitate the handling or manipulation thereof; A more specific object is to'avoid adhesion of thin sheeted rubber, such as shoe stock, to itself or to other ob]ects, in the cutting of blanks therefrom and in the building of such blanks into rubber footwear. A further object is so to reduce the adhesiveness of such materials without requiring the use of' dusting powders orcoating materials such as are commonly used upon-various kinds of rubber stock.

Of the accompanying drawing, the single figure is a perspective view,somewhat dia- I grammatic and with parts omitted for clearness of illustration, of apparatus embodying and adapted to carry out my invention in its preferred form, as applied to thin, sheeted rubbedlsuchas shoe stock. v

Referring to the drawing, 10 is a sheet of unvu'lcanized, initially adhesive or tacky rubber, being drawn from asuitable source of supply such as a calender (not shown), passingover a guide roll 11, which may be 40 loosely journaled, and about a set of spacedapart cooling rolls 12, 13,14, said cooling rolls being adapted for the circulation of a cooling fluid therethrough, and preferably being driven to withdraw the fragile rubber sheet from the calender. 15 is an endless belt onto which said rubber sheet passes from said cooling rolls. 7

I have found that the adhesiveness of the.

surface of u'nvulcaniied rubber stock may be greatly reduced by the simple expedient of lightly brushing 0r rubbing such surface a with a -non-adhesive brushing member, and

for this purpose in' the preferred embodiment here shown, I employ woven cotton fabric, Two successive brushing elements,

second more heavily, under'the force of a.-

the rubber strip as the latter is so fed,

16, 17, secured to respective supporting bars 18, 19, and adapted to drag upon the same side of the sheet are here employed, the first bearing lightly upon the work and the weight 20, so that the adhesiveness of the sheet is'substantially reduced bythe first brushing element before it is subjected to the greater pressure ofthe second, sticking of the sheet toeither of the brushing elements thus being avoided, while the two successive brushing operations, cumulative in their effect, result in a great reduction in the tackiness of the shee.

The effect is apparently due in large part to blooming of the sulfur contained in the rubber compound, such blooming being induced by the brushing operation, and rapidly becoming more pronounced as the stock is allowed to stand after being brushed as described; y

The weight 20 is here shown as consisting 7 of a roll of 'unvulcanized rubber sheet l simply laid upon the dragging portion of the fabric brushing element 17, and each of the brushing elements is shown as consisting of a plurality of plies, afi'ording suitable weight and assuring proper contact of 'the brushing element with the rubber sheet throughout the latters width, but my inven- 5 tion is of course not wholly limited to the specific, exemplification shown and described, in these 'or in other respects.

I,claim: A

. 1. The method of reducing the adhesiveness of an unvulcanized, compounded rubber which comprises brushing the surface thereof with a non-adhesive brushing element,

independently of any application of a coating material to said rubber.

' 2. The method of reducing the adhesiveness of a strip of sheeted,- unvulcanized, compounded rubber which comprises feeding the sheeted' strip past a non-adhesive brushing element and. holding said element against whereby the adhesiveness of the rubber is reduced independently of any application of a coating material thereto.

'3. The method f reducing the adhesiveness of a strip of sheeted, unvulcanized, compounded rubber which com rises lightly brushing the surface theme and subsequently more heavily brushing said surface,

the adhesiveness of the rubber being reduced independently of any application of a coating material thereto.

4. Apparatus for reducing the adhesiveness of a strip of sheeted, unvulcanized, compounded rubber, said apparatus com rising means for feeding said strip, and a fiexible, fabric, brushing member adapted to drag upon said strip as it is so fed, said brushing element being adapted to reduce the adhesiveness of said strip independently of any application of a coatingmaterial thereto.

5. Apparatus for reducing the adhesive ness of a strip of sheeted, unvulcanized, compounded rubber, said apparatus comprising means 1'0r feeding said strip, a flexible brushing member adapted to drag upon said strip as it is so fed, said brushing element being adapted to reduce the adhesiveness of said strip independently of any application of a coating material thereto, and a second brushing element adapted subsequently to bear upon the Work.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 16th day of January, 1924:.

ANTONI WALEZAK. 

